Month: February 2017

Brayan and Luana have been learning about cells, their parts and their functions. They have learned to prepare slides and use a microscope. They have worked together to design this YMCA as an analogy for a cell. Each organelle is represented by one part of the community pool below. Stay tuned for the 3D model coming soon!

Lockers are a place for storage. They are the vacuoles.

The bathroom has toilets to break down waste and bacteria they are the Lysosome.

The people are little grains floating around inside the YMCA (the cell) and on the hallways (Rough ER) where proteins are made. They are the Ribosomes.

The wall is the protective outside layer of the YMCA that lets some things in and keeps others out. It’s the Plasma Membrane.

The mitochondria breaks down sugar, and the Juice Bar uses the sugar to make energy for the swimmers.

Don’t run when you get to the pool! Its cytoplasm might make you slip.

The janitor’s closet packages things to leave the cell. He calls his closet Golgi Apparatus.

The main office has Mr. Nucleus who is the boss and also the brain of the office.

The office wall surrounds the office and controls who goes in and out just like the nuclear membrane does in a cell.

I have been reading a book called Case for Christ for Kids by Lee Strobel. It taught me a lot about about Jesus that I did not know before. I was most impressed with the miracles Jesus did and the reason he really died on the cross and now I’d like to share what it meant to me.

I used to find it boring to read the Bible and pray because these things felt like chores to me. Several things I learned while reading Strobel’s book have helped me to experience God in a new way. Case for Christ taught me the real reason Jesus died on the cross: so he could take away all our sins. If he hadn’t died on the cross, we would all be dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1). I also learned that Jesus had 5000 eyewitnesses when he fed them with one little boy’s lunch and also over 500 saw him resurrected after his crucifixion. Case for Christ taught me new miracles Jesus did. He healed a man who was born blind and cast out demons from many people. Case for Christ has really shown me the kind of great messiah Jesus really was. Case for Christ taught me that some of Jesus’ followers were so loyal that they would die for him by standing fast in their beliefs. Jesus loved us so much he was willing to die for us. So, when he died he took our sins away and beat the devil.

Case for Christ really showed me how great God is. It also taught me the real reason Jesus died on the cross. The book revealed miracles I did not know about before. As I read it, I learned that some of Jesus’ followers were very loyal to him. Now that I feel closer in my relationship to Him, I also want to be a loyal follower of Christ. I’d say the Case for Christ is solved: He is my savior.

I believe that Jesus is God. I have believed this since I was a little girl. Sometimes we have to ask ourselves, what did Jesus think of himself? Did he think he was God? The Messiah? Was He just a crazy guy that claimed he was God? Lee Strobel’s Case For Christ has helped me answer some of these questions.

Did Jesus Really Think He Was God?The fact that Jesus claimed to be God doesn’t necessarily mean that was God. There are so many Bible verses in which Jesus claims to be God or other people say that Jesus is God that a hard to deny he was telling the truth. Also, there’s the fact that Jesus matches up with the identity of Christ as predicted in the Old Testament and he was the only person known to ever come back to life. No ordinary person can come back to life.

God can forgive sins. According to the Bible, God is the only one in charge of forgiving sins. When King David committed adultery and then arranged the death of the woman’s husband, he said to God, “Against you, you only, have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4). David recognized that although he had hurt people, in the end he had sinned against God, and he needed God to forgive him. Jesus forgave sins in Mark 2:1-12. One of the most striking- and offensive, to many people-things that Jesus did was forgive sins. You can read other ways that Jesus matched up with the identity of God in Lee Strobel’s Case For Christ. There was a point in my life where I didn’t know who I should ask forgiveness from. But now that I’m older and go to church, I understand the only person I can ask forgiveness from is God.

Did Jesus Fake His Death?Before I read Lee Strobel’s Chase For Christ, I believed that Jesus had faked his death. And even if he hadn’t faked his death, how would he have come back to life? As I read the book, I realized, how could he have actually faked his death?

Before Jesus was hung on the cross, he was whipped. Now whipping doesn’t necessarily kill a person. But if you are whipped with braided metal thongs that had metal balls woven into them, that can be pretty damaging. The whip also had pieces of bone that would cut into the flesh. Whipping usually consisted of 39 lashes but a soldier would inflict more depending on his mood. I was moved by Jesus’ obedience and how very painful it was for him. Here are some details about crucifixion that affected me deeply.

Nearly all the pictures of Jesus on the cross show the nails going through his palms. Probably because the Bible mentioned nail marks on Jesus’ hands (John 20:25). But actually, the Romans drove the spikes into the victim’s wrists (which was considered part of the hand). The bones in the hand aren’t strong enough to hold the weight of the body if they were on the cross. The nails would have shredded right through the palms, and the victim would have fallen off the cross

Once the person is hanging in the vertical position crucifixion is an agonizingly slow death. In order to exhale, the person would have to push up on his feet. When he did that the nails would tear through the feet until they locked up against the anklebones. After he managed to exhale, the person would then be able to relax down and then take another breath in. Again he would have to push up to exhale. This would go on and on until complete exhaustion would take over and the person wouldn’t be able to push up to breathe anymore. As the person’s breathing slowed down, the lack of oxygen would lead to an erratic heartbeat and eventually cardiac arrest.
(p. 86-87, Case for Christ).

I think Jesus knew that he had to die. He knew all the pain that he would have to go through. I love that Jesus never backed own and said “You know what, I don’t really want to die, so just let me go and I will never claim to be God again.” Instead, he took on our sins and died for us. What about you, do you still think Jesus faked his death?

Can a Dead Man Come Back to Life?The answer to this question is no. A dead person cannot come back to life. Then why did Jesus? Because Jesus is God and God can do anything. Jesus matches the identity of God. An ordinary dead man cannot come back to life. Jesus came back to life because he was not an ordinary man he was God. And since Jesus is God and what he says is true, I know that he loves me as much as he says, “he has my best interest at heart. That means I have nothing to lose and everything to gain by committing myself to him” (p. 112, Case for Christ).